Process for the production of washing agents



Patented Mar. 6, 1928.

UNITE sTA'rEs PATENT- oFicE.

GBIGORI PETBOFF, OF MOSCOW, RUSSIA, AN D PETER SHESTAKOFF, OF PARIS,FRANCE.

PROCESS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF WASHING AGENTS.

No Drawing. Application filed December 30, 1926, Serial No. 78,488, andin Germany February 20, 1925.

This invention relates to processes of preparing washing compounds andit comprises a process in which mixtures of aromatic hydrocarbons andhighly unsaturated drying or semi-drying oils are sulfonated and thesulfonation product thereafter purlfied.

Virtually all of the washing compounds at present in use .consist ofalkali salts of fatty acids such as sodium stearateor other sodiumsalts. However, incertain cases, these soaps are not suitable for usebecause of the liberation by hydrolysis of free alkalies and because thewashing and emulsifying properties of the soaps diminish in proportionto the hardness of the water. In the textile industries, soaps, used aswashmg compounds, exert a detrimental eifect on the fibres of thetextiles because of the free alkali liberated as stated. Therefore, ithas been the practice to'replace soaps by salts of sulfurized castor oilwhich may be employed either as such or mixed with carbon tetrachloride,trichlorethylene, hydrogenated naphthaline, phenols, etc. It has alsobeen proposed to use sulphonic acids derived from naphthaline or naphthadistillates. These substances however, since they are obt-alned asby-products in refining naphtha 'distillates contain considerablequantities of mineral oils which make them unsuitable in cases where thematerial to be treated therewith contains oils, such as in the treatmentof wool.

We have found that washing compounds may be obtained which are devoid ofthe above defects residing in soaps or other proposed washing agents bysulfonating mixtures of aromatic hydrocarbons or phenols with drying orsemi-drying oils.

We have further found that in order to obtain products of high qualityand suitable for use, that the mixture to be sulfonated must havecertain characteristics. First, the mixture to be sulfonated shouldcontain a mixture of high molecular weight aromatic hydrocarbons withlow molecular ones, for instance, benzol with naphthaline and second theamount of drying or semi-drying oils present should be about to based onthe weight of aromatic hydrocarbons. In other words the drying orsemi-drying oils should be in an amount such'that considerably less thanmolal weight of or semi-drying oils is present for one molal weight ofthe aromatic hydrocarbons.

The sulfonation of the mixture is carried out in the cold withconcentrated sulphuric acid. During the sulfonation the temperature mayrise of its own accord to about 95 to 100 C. The mixture is'left at restfor 10'to 12 hours and then washed with water in order to eliminate thesulfuric acids. The sulfonated mass is then treated with benzine, benzolor other solvents to eliminate therefrom the excess hydrocarbons andfatty acids. The resulting product is obtained in the form of a thickviscous mass which has good washing properties and may be used not onlyin the form of a neutral alkali metal salt but also in the form of itsfree acid. Its washing, emulsifying, and wetting properties are notdiminished by the use of hard water as is the case when ordinary soapsare used. The washing compound so obtained may be used not only as awashing material" to eliminate dirt, but also as a compound suitable forthe purpose of emulsifying and hydrolyzing starch, dextrine, fats,pectin,

etc. The compound prepared as described above has properties whichdifferentiate it from the sulfoaromatic fatty acids known as Twitchellsreagent. In Twitchells reagent,

oleic acid is used as the fatty acid whereas in the present inventiondrying-and semi-drying oils which contain linoleic or linolenic acidsare used. These acids are highly unsaturated because of the plurality ofdouble bands which they contain. Furthermore, the present compounddiffers from Twitchells reagent in that in the present process a mixtureof high molecular weight and low molecular weight aromatic hydrocarbonsare used. And in a still further way, the present composition orcompound differs from Twltc-hells reagent in that the molecularproportion of aromatic hydrocarbons is in exctelss of the molecularquantity of the oil use As an example, a mixture of parts by weightofsunflower oil, 40 parts by weight of benzol, 40 parts by weight ofxylol, and 20 parts by weight of naphthaline are sulfonated with 150parts by weight of sulfuric acid having a specific gravity of 1.84.After 12 hours standing the mixture is washed with an aqueous solutionof sodium sulphate or sodium chloride in order to eliminate the sulfuricacid and the sulfonation product thereafter washed with benzine toremove the. unacted on hydrocarbons and fatty acids.

As a further example a mixture of 50 parts by weight of xylol, 20 partsby weight of naphthaline, 20 parts by weight of para cresol and 50 partsweight of lime oil is,

sulfonated with sulfuric acid and purified as described in the precedingexample. By treating the sulfonicderivatives with alkali metalhydroxides, hard soaps are obtained.

What We claim is:

1. The process of preparing a Washing compound which comprisessulfonating' a mixture of aromatic hydrocarbons and highly" unsaturateddrying oils, and thereafter purifying the sulfonation product.

2; The process of preparing Washingcompounds which comprisessulfonat-ing a mixture of high and low molecular weight aromatichydrocarbons and drying oils.

3. The process of preparing washing compounds which comprisessulfonating a mixture of high and low molecular Weight aromatichydrocarbons and dryingoils, the molecular quantity of drying oils beingless than the molecular quantity of aromatic hydrocarbons.

4. A washing compound comprising the sulfonation product of a mixture ofaromatic hydrocarbons and drying OllS.

In testimony whereof We affix our signatures.

GRIGORI PETROFF. PETER SHE$TAKOFE

